


Garden Variety Destruction

by Inquartata (mackillian)



Series: Tessera [3]
Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types
Genre: A Valuable Learning Experience, Aethyta And Thaia Use The Word Fuck Like Punctuation, Also Most Commandos Can't Communicate Effectively Without Swearing, Because Commandos, F/F, Gen, Humor, Implied/Referenced Sexual Situations, Sparring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-05
Updated: 2019-06-05
Packaged: 2020-04-08 09:20:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19104223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mackillian/pseuds/Inquartata
Summary: Matriarch Benezia’s garden suffers the brunt of the damage during a certain young commando’s assessment.





	Garden Variety Destruction

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [A Valuable Learning Opportunity](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17950181) by [DrJekyl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrJekyl/pseuds/DrJekyl). 



**Armali, circa 2042.**

Assessment days were the best.

And Aethyta wasn’t the only person who thought so, either. For the T’Soni household, it was a spectator sport. Everyone who could manage a nominally credible excuse to step away from their duties migrated to seats in the observation area on the training gym’s roof, where they could see and hear the commandos below no matter where they went. Aethyta was there to help with the assessments, like she usually did. Benezia was going to miss it this time, forced to attend an emergency political something-or-other that Aethyta couldn’t give two flying fucks about.

This would be more fun.

Clad in practice leathers, the T’Soni commandos, along with Lucen’s Guides, the militia squad currently training with them, milled around the grassy tree-ringed field that stretched out beyond the gym and barracks. The only absent commandos were the ones currently on Nezzy’s guard detail with Shiala’s second or those on estate perimeter duty. The commandos present weren’t just in the middle of the field, either. Just to be safe, they were at the far opposite side from Benezia’s favorite section of garden, the one with the fountain designed and built by someone famous who Aethyta couldn’t remember.

“Do we really have to do this again?” asked Thaia Kallistrate, the youngest member of Lucen’s Guides, who was also the youngest child of one of Aethyta’s friends.

On many occasions over the past six years the Guides had been training with Nezzy’s commandos, Aethyta had chatted with Thaia’s dad, Sula, reporting the shit her kid pulled. The best was still when Thaia had left herself open to get smacked in the face with a shockwave because she’d gotten distracted by Nezzy’s magnificent rack. Not that Aethyta blamed her since it _was_ that kind of rack, but the kid needed to learn to keep her guard up while she was mesmerized. Fortunately, she’d learned that skill within a couple months.

“Yes, but not today,” said Rosava, the captain of Lucen’s Guides. “Today is different.”

“Now I’m even less reassured.” Thaia looked between the gathered T’Soni commandos, the growing crowd on the gym roof, and then paled. “Oh, _no_. Not another assessment.”

Arunhati, subcaptain of the Guides, frowned at Thaia. “We haven’t had a single one yet this year.”

“We’re only three months in. And you aren’t going to get me to _not_ complain about an impending mandatory ass-kicking.”

“This is gonna be so much fun,” said Nerae, one of the T’Soni commandos.

Thaia scowled. “I’m glad someone’s happy about it. Like, say, someone who isn’t risking life and limb to get her ass handed to her.”

“You could tap out when you’re put down the first time,” said Rosava.

“If I can still get up, I’m not fucking tapping out.”

“Honestly, I think it might kill you to be reasonable,” said Arun.

“You wouldn’t be the first person to say that.”

“Seriously,” said Nerae, rubbing her hands together, “I’ve been waiting _so_ long for this.”

Thaia rolled her eyes. “Sure, you can kick my ass, but that doesn’t change the fact that Armali slaughtered Serrice last month. And will slaughter Serrice again next week.”

The kid had a mouth on her that she liked to run, including giving shit to any and all Serrice fans every time she could—even _Aethyta_ wasn’t an exception, which took a quad—so there probably wasn’t a single commando in the household who didn’t want to throw her ass across the training field. More than once. A reasonable thing in most cases, maybe overzealously in Nerae’s, which warranted some mild concern. However, talk shit, get hit, as the saying went, and Thaia talked a lot of cocky shit. But she was a surprisingly good sport about it when the targets of her shit-talking inevitably got their revenge in sparring matches.

When Aethyta had mentioned that to Benezia, Nezzy’d said something about Thaia having a strong sense of fair play. Aethyta could see it. Explained the kid’s resistance to learning any of the dirty close quarters moves Aethyta had tried to teach her.

If she ever reined in that fucking mouth, along with mastering fine control over her biotics, she had real potential. That potential, her squad captain had said repeatedly, was one reason that allowed Rosava to tolerate her typical exasperating as fuck young maiden traits. Kid had a good heart and a willingness to learn, which also helped. She’d thrown herself into training with enough earnestness that she’d spent all her free time reading the books Nezzy had passed her way. It’d once reached the point where Shiala—who’d seen it before—had dragged her out of the library to remind her that continuing her weight training regimen was _also_ important. Then she’d thrown in an appeal to the kid’s vanity, asking if Thaia really wanted to waste all the work she’d put into developing those muscles.

Courtesy of Sula, Aethyta had seen holos of the kid during her gawky stage and _Athame’s tits_ she’d had to have put in a _lot_ of work to fill out that gangly body. Paid off, though. Even Benezia had mentioned an aesthetic appreciation of Thaia’s arms, though that had been a private comment made to Aethyta.

Shiala exited the indoor training area and strode onto the field just as Nerae was saying to Thaia, “I’m going to enjoy throwing your ass around, picking your ass back up, and then throwing you again.”

“Unfortunately,” Shiala said as she came to a halt in front of them, “you’ll have to continue waiting. I’ll be the one performing the assessments today, including Thaia’s, which we’ll start with.”

Rosava clapped Thaia on the back. “Don’t worry, I’ll be watching from up top.”

If Thaia heard her, she didn’t give any indication. Just stood there like she was about to faint, cry, or both. Since she was being pitted against the captain of the T’Soni guard, which meant she barely had a fighting chance, Aethyta couldn’t blame her. Shit, unless she got in a lucky hit or had advanced a step or ten in mastering fine control of her admittedly on the strong side raw biotic power, Thaia stood about the same chance as a pyjak facing down a thresher maw.

Really, the pyjak’s odds of survival looked better.

But this wasn’t about someone defeating Shiala—which, one on one, was a realistic outcome only for Aethyta and Benezia—it was about assessing what the Armali commandos had learned so far and how they applied it. Aethyta had every confidence that the kid would do perfectly fine in that regard. It was her hard-headed, intractable competitiveness that was problematic.

When Captain Rosava reached the observation area, she took the chair saved for her next to Aethyta.

“So what’s your prediction?” Aethyta asked after Rosava had settled in.

She sighed. “I’m not worried about her evaluation so much as I am her not ending it until forced. I know she’s taken a few of Shiala’s commandos by surprise because they hadn’t realized she’s been putting in serious effort to get better, but this is _Shiala_ we’re talking about.”

Aethyta laughed. “Don’t worry, Shiala won’t give her any serious injuries when she keeps going because she doesn’t know what’s good for her.” She swatted Rosava on the shoulder. “Hey, your baby commando’s finally growing up.”

“Thank the fucking goddess.”

The other commandos joined the rest of the household in the observation area or found safe places down near the trees.

Once the field had cleared, Shiala motioned Thaia forward.

As Thaia grudgingly tread a few steps toward her through the dewy grass, missing was that cheeky, self-aware, and just-short-of-over confidence. Which was kind of disappointing, actually. While she wouldn’t get under Shiala’s skin like she could the other commandos, it was still fun to watch her try.

Without warning, Thaia rushed forward in a biotic charge. While several spectators murmured their surprise, along with gasps from some of the acolytes, Shiala showed no sign of surprise, simply raising a biotics-encased hand and taking a step forward.

Like any good, responsible captain, Rosava groaned in dismay. “Goddess, she’s just going to grab her right out of it. Which Thaia _knows_ , so I have no idea what she’s thinking unless she’s trying to throw the fight. And she wouldn’t do that and we all know it because that competitive streak of hers is about as wide as Thessia’s orbit.”

In Aethyta’s opinion, that might’ve been lowballing it.

Thaia’s charge stopped short, the sudden discharge crackling both her barrier and Shiala’s as they repelled the residual force. The snapping energy allowed Thaia to take a biotic evasion step around Shiala as Shiala spun and reached back with a pull, forcing Thaia into another brief charge and then flipping sideways in the air to escape its grip.

Aethyta was almost impressed.

But Shiala’s throw chased the pull, catching Thaia in midair and flinging her into a tree trunk. The sapling snapping in half echoed off the stone walls of the barracks and the glass windows of the gym and the main house.

Most people would’ve tapped out at that point.

The kid hopped to her feet because asari kids with recent krogan ancestry were not ‘most people.’

“Shit,” said Rosava.

“That’s the krogan right there,” said Aethyta.

“Her father’s krogan?” asked Randi, the most oblivious yet brilliant organizer and scheduler of an asari Aethyta had ever met.

“No, but she’s got a krogan grandparent on each side, and there’s a great-grandparent somewhere in there, too. In other words, the results are about the same.”

“Oh,” said Randi.

Randi said that a lot, including the first time she’d met Thaia. She’d been in one of the meditation gardens when Thaia, thrown by Shiala’s second, had landed practically at her feet. Rather than panicking, Randi had remained calm, if somewhat perplexed, at the sudden turn of events. One of the commandos who’d witnessed it had later reported to the rest of the household that Randi had said, she would swear to the goddess, _“Oh, an attractive intruder.”_

Down on the field, near the splintered remains of the unfortunate sapling, Thaia barely managed to get her barrier back up in time. It flashed when Shiala’s warp slammed into it, and then the singularity on its heels stripped it almost entirely. Barrier flickering as it fought against the gravity well of the singularity, Thaia darted to the side with a burst of biotics to lengthen her evasion.

Then she ran her ass across the entire fucking field and beyond, straight into Benezia’s beloved garden.

Shiala chased her down, her throw zipping toward Thaia the moment she stepped her own foot into the garden. Still on the run, Thaia lobbed a shockwave over her shoulder to counter, and then crashed into the tiled water fountain when the detonation hit her barrier. Water immediately began to cascade around the commando who’d landed inside and through a crack in the previously intact retaining wall, pouring onto the slate tiles surrounding it.

“Shit!” Thaia said as she rolled out of the draining water and flung a warp toward Shiala before crouching behind the fountain.

Right before the dark energy reached her, Shiala stepped to the side, the warp zinging over her shoulder and into the little stand of trees behind her. One tree took the brunt of the impact and split in two.

Thaia bolted when she saw the damage. “Goddess fucking—” But the next throw caught her mid-curse, a push to her back that launched her forward, unprepared, nearly at the speed of a charge, into a flowerbed. The decorative bricks that surrounded the flowerbed caught the toe of her boot and sent her sprawling, eventually skidding to a stop after an arm and a leg had mowed down a third of the flowerbed.

“Stay the fuck down!” Rosava yelled in a useless attempt to get her commando to come to her senses.

The thing about asari with krogan ancestry, in Aethyta’s extensive experience, was that they _had_ senses, but their senses tended to be different from typical asari.

Thaia popped right back up.

“She’s going to get herself killed,” said Kiana, another commando with the Guides.

“Shiala won’t kill her,” said Aethyta. “Wouldn’t be professional.”

Personally, Aethyta would’ve been yelling _get back here, you little shit!_ five minutes into the match, but Shiala wasn’t just your ordinary professional.

She was a _consummate_ professional.

After regaining her balance, Thaia cut back across the garden. When Shiala threw another warp her way, Thaia was forced to briefly duck behind the leaking fountain again before she leapt over it. At the apex of her jump, Thaia entered a biotic charge that angled straight down at Shiala and the oncoming warp. The warp’s detonation from Thaia’s nova pulverized the top ten centimeters of the fountain’s stone walls, carving the crack into a crevasse. Water cascaded through, pooling on the paved stone walkway.

The nova had been a good choice because, unlike a flare, the move left her with a little barrier instead of being caught with her ass hanging out as she exited her charge near Shiala.

The close detonation and then the sudden switch to infighting worked to an extent—Shiala’s barrier actually failed for an entire second. But Thaia took advantage of every microsecond of that second, combining a lift with a small, controlled singularity and then a warp fine-tuned enough for the detonation to launch Shiala’s surprised ass through a towering topiary.

Aethyta laughed. Shiala was going to be _beside_ herself and Aethyta would use this against her for decades.

Equally as surprised was the person who’d thrown Shiala. Thaia stood in shock, staring at the topiary for a moment before she looked over at the observation area and shouted, “Fuck me! It worked! Rosava, did you _see_ that?”

Rosava stood and shouted, “Move your ass, Kallistrate! Or do you _want_ to get murdered?”

“Right!” Thaia jumped up and looked through the hole in the topiary, where Shiala, barrier already shimmering strongly, was getting up a scale on the slow side.

“She’s so proud of herself,” said Randi.

“She’s adorable,” said one of the senior acolytes, a matron.

“How old is she?” asked the newest of Benezia’s acolytes.

“Hundred and change. If that fuck me offer is genuine, you should take advantage,” said an acolyte who’d been around the place for a couple decades. “Pretty good lay, that one.”

“You’re welcome,” said Aethyta.

“What?” said the newest acolyte. She’d only been around for a month or so, which apparently wasn’t long enough to comprehend that matriarchs knew things beyond the philosophical.

“Combat advice isn’t the only advice I pass along if someone’s willing to listen,” Aethyta said to her, and then added a wink for good measure.

Rosava kept her eyes on the member of her squad in the garden below—the one who hadn’t stopped standing there in shock and wide fucking open and was going to get her ass beat worse than before if she didn’t move—entire body braced for whatever retribution would soon be hitting Thaia. “She was a walking disaster when we got here six years ago.”

“Then good job on Aethyta because she isn’t anymore,” said the acolyte who’d apparently banged her.

So it appeared the kid was a dedicated student of more than combat strategies. Aethyta made a mental note to pass along some _really_ advanced techniques. It was the least she could do for a good student and for the acolytes who might end up taking her for a test drive.

The conversation died down again when Shiala, surrounded by a magnificent aura of surging biotics and furious calm, leapt back through the topiary and stalked toward Thaia.

Thaia, having finally registered the danger she was in, ran her ass behind a mid-sized decorative pond. Flowering vines, broad green leaves setting off the bright yellow petals that Benezia was fond of, covered the majority of the water. At least, they did until Shiala sent a biotic attack skimming along the surface, gathering up leaves and flowers as it went, before it hit a flare Thaia formed just in time.

The detonation sent a cloud of shredded leaves and flowers straight back at Shiala.

She vaulted over them as she collapsed Thaia’s barrier with a warp mid-flip. On her perfectly executed landing, she followed up the warp with a lift. Thaia fucking squeaked in alarm before detonating the attack. Then she barely got out an, “Oh, _fuck_ ,” before the detonation’s boom overwhelmed the garden and then the entire complex, rattling walls and windows.

But Thaia had let Shiala’s new attack get too close, and her forming barrier failed halfway through the chain reaction. The kinetic energy launched her into the air, where she fruitlessly flailed about as she let loose a string of curses. Then Shiala compounded her lift with a singularity and then a throw for good measure, sending Thaia sailing across the garden.

Thaia twisted around enough that she got her feet down first, but momentum sent her skidding on her backside through one of Benezia’s last unblemished flowerbeds, plowing a furrow the length of it before she came to a stop.

She didn’t bother rising. The continued cursing, however, assured them that she hadn’t been knocked unconscious.

Shiala strode over and looked down at her. “Are you tapping out now?” she asked firmly, but her tone was impressively devoid of anger.

“She doesn’t and I’ll make it an order!” Rosava shouted as she, her squad, Aethyta, the T’Soni commandos, and several other members of the householdtrotted over to the garden.

In answer, Thaia directed a weak biotic tendril toward one of the flower petals that now decorated the stone-paved path next to her. It enveloped the petal for a few seconds before the field flickered out and died. “I’m done,” she said as the petal drifted down to the ground.

“Are you injured?” Shiala even sounded slightly concerned.

“Nothing’s broken,” Thaia said after a moment. “I just… you know, this spot is a lot more comfortable than you’d assume. Maybe it’s the ‘bed’ part of _flowerbed_.”

“You made her break a sweat!” said Kiana.

Really, forcing Shiala to work for the victory was the best outcome the kid could’ve hoped for.

“Because Shiala kept having to chase her down,” said Arun.

“Look,” Thaia said from the muddy flowerbed, “even I know that facing Captain Fucking Shiala head-on is detrimental to one’s health.”

“Oh, listen to you using those big words,” said Shirin, another Guide.

Still without getting up, Thaia tiredly made a rude hand gesture.

Rosava’s brow furrowed slightly in concern, because it took a _lot_ to shut the kid up. “You aren’t dying, are you?”

“No.” Thaia lifted her head slightly. “Do I wish I was? Yes.”

Shiala extended a hand. “Then no malingering. On your feet.” She helped Thaia up, the height difference between the shorter-than-average Shiala and the much-taller-than-average Thaia that hadn’t been noticeable while they sparred suddenly dramatic. Once Thaia was on her feet, Shiala put her hands on Thaia’s arms to steady her enough that she wouldn’t fall over. “You all right?” Once Thaia nodded, Shiala let go. “Good. Go get something to eat and drink inside and then come back out.”

Thaia stared. “ _Really_?”

“Endurance is important. And we have…” Shiala finally took in the scene around them. Namely, the remains of the devastated garden—the ripped up flowerbeds, the puddle surrounding the cracked and broken fountain, the vines and flowers strewn along the shore of the pond, the broken trees and sapling, the formerly impeccable topiary now sporting a curious choice of shape—and the flush of exertion, along with the rest of the blood, drained from her cheeks. “Much to clean up. Goddess, too much.”

Their destruction had been thorough, Aethyta would give ‘em that. Nezzy was going to be, well, a lot of things. All the things, possibly.

“We can fix this,” Thaia said with a surprising amount of confidence instead of the panicked ‘we’re so fucking dead’ hopelessness you’d expect in the face of disaster.

Shit, Aethyta almost believed her.

So did Shiala, though there was a shitload of incredulity there, too. She gestured at the ruins of the garden around them and then crossed her arms. “How?”

Thaia indicated the flowerbeds. “One, I may or may not have spent the earlier parts of my childhood occasionally wreaking havoc on my mother’s garden whenever I saw an arachnid, so I know a surprising amount about replanting flowerbeds.” She pointed at the fountain. “Two, I may or may not have learned a surprising amount about the inner mechanisms of fountains and reflecting pools after an incident involving fountains and reflecting pools in Serrice. In my defense, I was twenty-two and bored and my oldest sister helped.” Then she pointed at the pond. “Three, that same oldest sister is currently getting a combined PhD in agricultural engineering and hydrology, so fixing the pond and its plant life is right smack in the middle of her field.”

As Thaia had explained, Shiala’s posture had relaxed somewhat and the incredulousness faded in favor of mulling over the legitimate options Thaia had provided. “What about the trees?”

“Well.” Thaia studied them and then sighed. “Not much can be done for the ones we snapped in half except planting new saplings, unless Safira has other ideas.”

“You’re certain your sister would help?” asked Shiala.

“For the chance to give me shit for decades? Yeah. I think she’s on Niacal for fieldwork. I can go call her.”

Shiala nodded. “Go, then. Make sure you _do_ eat and drink something, as well. I’ll be in shortly.”

“I should go with her,” Randi said from beside Aethyta. “If there are arrangements to be made, they need to be reconciled with the household schedule.”

Thaia gave her a curious look, shrugged, and then motioned for Randi to follow.

Once the two had disappeared inside, the newest acolyte said, “That was the most transparent excuse I’ve ever heard.”

“Not for Randi,” said Aethyta. “She really does need to make sure repairs won’t conflict with the schedule.”

“That’s _it_? Really? I could’ve sworn—”

Then Shiala addressed the arrayed commandos and the rest of the household who hadn’t gone back to work, effectively ending the conversation. “The rest of you, return to your duties. Commandos, indoor training for the rest of today.” After everyone had dispersed, she checked her omni, paled once again, and then followed.

Having gotten the same message—Benezia was on her way home—Aethyta stayed outside and walked to the fountain to take in the full extent of the devastation the two commandos had wrought on Nezzy’s garden.

She couldn’t help but whistle. This bad without even trying. Had they been, she had no doubts whatsoever that the garden would’ve effectively been leveled.

Aethyta was still standing there when Benezia got back. “You should’ve seen it,” she said to her as she, bewildered and upset—though only Aethyta and Shiala would’ve been able to tell—at the destruction, strolled into the garden, still in the formal dress from whatever political thing she’d gone to. Really must’ve been important, too, because she’d worn that headdress that made her look three meters tall.

But she now held the headdress in her hands as she took in the damage before slowly and quietly asking, “Was anyone injured?”

That was Benezia, asking if anyone got hurt before getting good and mad. Aethyta shrugged. “It was Shiala and Thaia, so nothing that’d take either of them out. Bumps and bruises.”

After another survey, Benezia asked in the same tone of voice as before, “Was any of the damage caused by a body?”

“A few of the trees. The fountain, couple of the flowerbeds. Topiary, too.”

“Were all of them Althaia?”

“Nope, not all,” said Aethyta, keeping things light. “That’d be a Shiala-shaped hole in your topiary.”

That got Nezzy’s attention, shifting her appalled blue eyes from her garden to Aethyta. “ _Shiala_?”

“Told you that you should’ve seen it.” Then Aethyta went on to explain, because she was more than a little bit proud, too. “You know how you’ve been working with Thaia on the fine control and I’ve been working with her on her strengths with infighting? She combined ‘em. Charged right into Shiala’s warp, detonated it with a nova with enough power that Shiala’s barrier _actually_ dropped for a second. Maybe even two. Got her in a lift, used that tiny-ass singularity you’ve been teaching her, and then used a controlled warp to detonate ‘em. Sent Shiala through the topiary and the kid into shock that it’d worked.”

A smile pulled at the corners of Benezia’s mouth, and the same pride Aethyta felt reflected in Nezzy’s eyes. Good. Meant the kid and Shiala weren’t completely fucked for trashing the garden.

“I am impressed,” said Benezia, but then the smile faded. “Though I am less than thrilled it came at the cost of my garden.”

“Maybe,” Aethyta said with a shrug. “Maybe not. Kid had some legit sounding ideas about how to fix it. She’s recruiting one of her sisters into helping. Apparently one of ‘em is in school for ag engineering and hydrology. And then Thaia herself knows how to fix fountains and flowerbeds and I’ll be getting the details on how from Sula later. _After_ I show her the vid from today because she’s going to laugh her ass off.”


End file.
